Gender stereotypes during adolescence: Developmental changes and the transition to junior high school.

Although much evidence suggests that gender stereotyping becomes less flexible during adolescence, results of the present study indicate that gender stereotypes may actually become more flexible at some point during certain adolescent school transitions. The authors measured the flexibility of gender stereotypes in adolescents in Grades 4 through 11, using a combined cross-sectional and longitudinal design. Results indicated that flexibility increased for stereotypes concerning the psychological attributes of men and women after the transition into junior high school, regardless of whether this transition occurred during the 7th or 8th grade. Over the remaining years of junior high and high school, stereotype flexibility decreased. These results help resolve previous inconsistencies found in the literature by suggesting when and why changes in gender stereotype flexibility versus rigidity occur during adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sleep problems of junior high school students in Taipei

The objective of this work was to study the relationship between daily sleep time and characteristics of students, e.g. grade level, gender, and academic program. A sleep habit questionnaire was designed to survey students at two junior high schools, one from northern Taipei and the other from southern Taipei. The impact of shortened duration of sleep on daily function was also evaluated. A total of 965 students and their parents were selected randomly in December 1993 for the questionnaire study. The response rate was 96.4% (930) for students and 88.6% (855) for parents. The self-reported daily sleep time of students declined, and daytime sleepiness and moodiness increased in the higher grades. The girls slept fewer hours than the boys and did not show an increase in daytime sleepiness. Those students not taking the senior high school joint entrance examination slept more hours at night and maintained more alertness in the daytime than those who were taking the examination. The more academic pressures that adolescents faced, the fewer hours they slept. Students not participating in the joint entrance examination seemed to show a healthier sleep pattern. Little sleep at night made the students feel sleepy in the daytime and tired, drowsy, moody and difficult at arising in the morning. The reason why girls slept less than boys needs further investigation.     

初中化学教学的几点体会

化学是一门基础的自然科学,它同农业、能源、材料、资源开发、国防建设以及环境保护等方面有着密切的关系,中学化学教学是化学教育的启蒙和基础阶段,它不仅能为学生升人高一级学校学习有关专业奠定基础,也能为毕业生参加工作解决处理一些实际问题打下基础.     

Doing homework: perspectives of elementary and junior high school students

A survey of homework experiences was administered to 1,527 elementary and junior high students in regular (n = 1,242), resource (n = 234), and self-contained special education (n = 51) classrooms. The results found significant main effects for Group, Grade, and Group by Grade interactions for items related to amount of, type of, and time spent doing homework; opportunity to do homework at school; parents' assistance; students' beliefs about homework assignments and grading; and students' feelings about homework and school. The higher incidence of negative feelings and opinions from students in resource room programs suggests that students' understanding of assignments, the nature of the assignments, and the feedback given to students are important issues requiring closer evaluation. The results also suggest that changes in homework assignments and grading may make the transition from elementary to junior high school particularly difficult for students with special needs.     

Group play therapy with junior high school students.

Suggests that client-centered play therapy is a beneficial therapeutic approach for troubled junior high school students. However, in order to successfully implement this approach, the play activities unique to junior high students need to be recognized and accepted for what they are. An approach to in-school counseling similar to client-centered group play therapy, as described by M. DeMaria and S. Cowden (1992), is presented. "Play" in this context does not necessarily refer to activities that adults usually define as play, instead play will refer to activities that early teenagers engage in with each other. These activities (e.g., make-up and trashing) and their value to the children are described and interpreted. It is noted that the activities possess a social form which the youngsters define as meaningful and fun. The difficulties inherent in utilizing this approach with this volatile population are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic intrinsic motivation in elementary and junior high school students.

Investigated in 3 studies the significance of academic intrinsic motivation (AIM) for children's education. Ss for Studies 1–3 were 77 4th graders and 64 7th graders; 260 Ss in Grades 4–7; and 166 White middle-class Ss in Grades 5–8, respectively. Ss were administered an AIM inventory and an inventory of academic anxiety (AA). As predicted, AIM was found to be significantly and positively correlated with Ss' school achievement and perceptions of academic competence and negatively correlated with AA. Findings support the view that AIM is differentiated into school subject areas and is also a general orientation toward school learning. Relations between motivation and perception of competence and anxiety were differentiated by subject area, whereas achievement was more pervasively related to general motivation. Mathematics motivation, however, emerged as a unique predictor of mathematics achievement. The significance of AIM as differentiated into subjects and as a general orientation is discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancies, values, and achievement in junior high school.

Many theorists have suggested that students' motivation to achieve in school depends on their expectancies for success and the value they attach to success. There are few data, however, on the relation between expectancies and values or their relative contribution to achievement. To examine these issues, we asked 153 seventh graders to complete multiple measures of academic expectancies and values. We used students' report card grades and academic track placements in English and math as indicators of their achievement. Covariance structure analyses showed that students' expectancies were more strongly related to their achievement than were their values. Nevertheless, both expectancies and values made significant, independent contributions to achievement. In addition, the constructs for expectancies and values were positively correlated. Boys and girls had similar expectancies, but boys appeared to value academic success less than did girls. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

School-based health care for urban minority junior high school students

OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of school-based health clinics by urban minority junior high school students. DESIGN: Review of demographic and utilization data collected by service providers during clinic visits. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: Health clinics in four junior high schools that enrolled predominantly Hispanic students who were residing in an economically disadvantaged, medically underserved New York (NY) school district. RESULTS: Of 5757 students who were enrolled in the schools, 5296 (92%) obtained parental consent to use the clinics, and 3723 (65%) used the clinics during the 1991-1992 academic year. Clinic users were 11 to 15 years old, 50% male and 50% female, 81% Hispanic and 14% black, and 29% sixth graders, 33% seventh graders, and 38% eighth graders. Clinic users made 16,340 clinic visits during the 1991-1992 academic year. Presenting complaints were mental health problems (32%), illness (14%), injury (12%), physical examination (5%), immunization (3%), follow-up (21%), and other (13%). Referral sources were clinic outreach (48%), self (44%), and school personnel (8%). Disposition of visits was on-site treatment (92%), referral to an affiliated hospital (5%), and referral elsewhere (3%). Compared with a nationwide group of high school-based clinics that served predominantly black adolescents, these clinics provided more mental health care (31% vs 21%), similar illness/injury care (32% vs 30%), and less preventive (10% vs 24%) and reproductive/contraceptive (7% vs 12%) care. CONCLUSIONS: Junior high school-based clinics can provide a wide range of primary and preventive health care services for large numbers of medically underserved youths. The provision of mental health services may fill a critical need among inner-city adolescents. Clinic outreach may be necessary to maximize utilization, especially among high-risk students.     

A motivational environment for behaviorally deviant junior high school students

A contingency management program was established in a junior high school to better manage and educate students having histories of severe misconduct. School administration selected 46 eighth-graders having multiple suspensions for misbehavior. Students (N = 32) in two of the schools remained in traditional programs, serving as controls, whereas students (N = 14) in the third school participated in a token reinforcement program. Reinforcers provided in the afternoon were contingent upon achievement and discipline during morning academic periods. Home-based reinforcers were established to support school behavior. Compared with the control group, significant reductions in negative school behavior as well as greater increases in academic achievement were obtained for the treatment group, thus supporting the efficacy of contingency management for adolescents school misbehavior.     

Effective management at the beginning of the school year in junior high classes.

Based on year-long process and product measures of management effectiveness, 2 groups of 13 teachers of junior high mathematics and English were identified as being more or less effective in their classroom management practices and outcomes. Observational data collected in Ss' classrooms during the 1st 3 wks of the year were then analyzed. Numerous differences were found on such classroom processes as developing rules and procedures, monitoring student compliance, maintaining a task-oriented focus, communicating information, and organizing instruction. Data indicate that the beginning of the year is a crucial time for establishing effective classroom management and that teachers' planning and decision making need to be done before school starts. The importance of teacher training in this area is noted. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Peer acceptance and school-related variables in an integrated junior high school.

Interracial peer acceptance at the junior high school level was related to 9 predictor variables: grade point average (GPA), IQ, attendance, self-concept of academic ability, sex, race, age, years in the school, and classroom racial composition. 322 7th- and 8th-grade students from predominantly lower-middle-class backgrounds were administered modified Syracuse Scales of Human Relations, measuring academic and social acceptance. Analysis of variance results show that White Ss slightly preferred Whites for the satisfaction of their academic and social needs. However, with stepwise multiple regression analysis, race was not a significant predictor variable for academic or social acceptance by White Ss. GPA and sex were the most prominent predictors of acceptance. Black Ss accepted both Black peers and White peers equally for academic interaction but preferred Blacks for social interaction. Race was a significant predictor variable for academic and social acceptance by Black Ss. However, race was secondary to GPA and/or sex for academic acceptance by Black females and Black males. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of music on reading comprehension of junior high school students.

This quantitative study was an investigation of the effect of lyrical music on reading comprehension by adolescents. Existing research has produced results that range from concluding such distraction may be detrimental to finding it could be helpful. The reading comprehension subtest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests, 4th edition (MacGinitie, MacGinitie, Maria, & Dryer, 2000) was administered to 334 7th- and 8th-grade students. Testing was conducted under two conditions: a nonmusic environment, and with accompanying music comprising Billboard Magazine's (2006) top hit singles. Following the music portion of the test, students completed a survey to assess any preference for or against listening to music while studying. Results of an analysis of variance showed performance declined significantly when listening to music. A point biserial correlation illustrated a pronounced detrimental effect on comprehension for students exhibiting a stronger preference for listening to music while studying. Results are important for understanding influences on study habits, with the goal of helping educators and school psychologists design support systems tailored to the needs of adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Change in teacher efficacy and student self- and task-related beliefs in mathematics during the transition to junior high school.

In a longitudinal study of 1,329 students and the teachers they had for mathematics before and after the transition to junior high school, the relation between students' beliefs in mathematics and their teachers' sense of efficacy is examined. Using repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), we found that the rate of change within the school year in students' expectancies, perceived performance, and perceived task difficulty in math differed at Year 1 and 2, depending on teacher efficacy before and after the transition. Students who moved from high- to low-efficacy math teachers during the transition ended the junior high year with the lowest expectancies and perceived performance (even lower than students who had low efficacy teachers both years) and the highest perceptions of task difficulty. The differences in pre- and posttransition teachers' views of their efficacy had a stronger relationship to low-achieving than to high-achieving students' beliefs in mathematics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Responses to the postural change and orthostatic dysregulation symptoms: a population study on Japanese junior and senior high school students

Unselected 580 male and 779 female junior and senior high school students were subjected to the tilting test and informations on 11 autonomic dysregulation symptoms and complaints were taken by interviews. Results of the analyses of the data are summarized as follows: 1) Number of symptoms and complaints possessed by each individual distributes continuously but nonrandomly among testees; that is, individuals having no symptom and those having 5 or more symptoms are significantly more numerous than those expected from random distribution, indicating accumulation of the symptoms into some individuals. 2) Some specific symptoms tend to coincide with each other. 3) Principal component analyses disclosed that the first principal component can explain only 16-20% of the observed variation in the presence or absence of symptoms and complaints, suggesting that numerous factors are responsible for the occurrence of the symptoms. 4) Measurements of the blood pressures and the pulse rate, and their responses to the postural change show continuous, normal distributions, and significantly correlate to each other. 5) The responses to the tilting test are increased with the increase of number of symptoms and complaints possessed by the testees.     

Effect of air pollution on respiratory symptoms of junior high school students in Indonesia

In 1994, 16,187 junior high school students were surveyed in Jakarta and surrounding cities, Indonesia, to study the effect of air pollution on respiratory illnesses. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was measured by the filter badge developed by Yanagisawa and Nishimura as a measure of air pollution. The average concentration of NO2 is the highest in central Jakarta and Tangerang (22-30 ppb), the lowest in rural areas (5-11 ppb), and in other cities, 11-20 ppb. Self-administered questionnaires were given to the students in 29 schools to obtain respiratory symptoms of cough, phlegm and wheeze. A significant relationship was found in this study between NO2 exposure levels and prevalence rates of cough, phlegm, and wheezing without cold, which were 27.7 to 38.7%, 15.0 to 21.9%, and 1.4 to 2.9%, respectively. Prevalence rates of persistent cough and persistent phlegm were 7.3 to 10.8% and 4.5 to 5.0% respectively. These rates were higher than those found by other researchers. This difference may be partly due to the survey methods. The more polluted, the higher the prevalence rate of respiratory symptoms.     

Career adaptivity: The effective adaptation of managers to changing role demands.

Investigated how personal characteristics relate to career adaptivity with 77 35–58 yr old males who had faced multiple changes in their managerial role requirements. A taxonomy of 6 managerial roles—technical/professional, interpersonal, formal organization, political, boundary, and personal—was developed, and career adaptivity was defined as the rated ability to adjust successfully to more than 1 managerial role. Ss were administered the Career Development Inventory, Purpose in Life Test, Survey of Interpersonal Values, Personal Opinion Survey, Intolerance of Ambiguity, and other measures. With age partialed out, the career-adaptive group (compared to the nonadaptive group) had completed more career development activities, reported a higher level of self-esteem, used a simpler decision-making process, varied their speed in making decisions, and demonstrated a greater openness to different ideas than did the less adaptive group. The constructs of personal autonomy, ability to cope with stress, and mental and physical health and activity did not discriminate. Results fail to support many of the common ideas about midcareer development. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internal-external control and drug use among junior high school students in a rural community

Internal-external (I-E) control and current drug use were assessed among rural junior high school students. As expected, a negative relationship was found between internal control and drug use quantity-frequency. Correlations involving I-E control and drug use outcomes, while in the expected direction, were not significant. Data from the junior high sample were compared with previously collected high school data, and it was found that while overall patterns of use were similar for the two groups, the junior high students report lower quantity-frequency and more social complications.     

Behavior, motivation, and achievement in desegregated junior high school science classes.

To locate possible antecedents for racial differences in science achievement, measures of mathematics and reading achievement, causal attribution, attitude toward school success, and in-class behavior were acquired from 40 Black and 40 White junior high school students, both groups evenly divided between males and females. Significant group differences were limited to mean achievement test scores and science grades. Achievement scores were significantly related to grades, but classroom behaviors also accounted for a significant and unique portion of the variance. There were no significant relationships between behaviors and other student measures. Teacher ratings of effort, ability, course difficulty, and environment were also acquired. Teachers rated Whites as smarter and believed that Black females exerted the greatest effort and Black males the least. As a secondary interest, number and type of student interactions were recorded. Few hostile interracial encounters were observed, and interactions were predominately within race. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)